User Menu

Search form

User menu

SocialHeader

June 22nd, 2018 Policy Alert

It’s been a VERY busy and productive week for energy storage in New York! This Policy Update provides
a summary of recent major policy developments.

New York Energy Storage Roadmap

After months of hard work on the part of many parties, including staff at the NYS Energy Research and
Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the NYS Department of Public Service (DPS), and significant
engagement and input from NY-BEST and our members, we are pleased to share the news that the State
has released the New York Energy Storage Roadmap. The Roadmap charts the path to achieving
Governor Cuomo’s target of 1,500 MW of storage deployed on New York’s electric grid by 2025 and
forms the basis for the Public Service Commission to adopt a more aggressive 2030 storage target
before the end of the year.

The Roadmap includes a series of policy and regulatory recommendations to achieve the State’s energy
storage targets and open opportunities for energy storage in customer-sited, distribution system and
bulk system markets. Highlights of the recommendations include:

$350 million in funding for a new statewide market acceleration bridge incentive program to jumpstart the deployment of energy storage;

Proposed changes in retail rate design and the VDER tariff to provide increased values for benefits provided by storage;

The addition of an energy storage “adder”, within the State’s NY-Sun Program, for solar-plus-storage projects;

The Roadmap will be the subject of public comment and technical conferences (to be announced). NY-
BEST will share information about the meetings as soon as its available and we will actively participate in
the technical conferences. We encourage all our members to submit comments and participate in the
technical conferences to ensure a strong industry presence in the record and at the public meetings.

The NYS Public Service Commission is expected to take final action on the Roadmap recommendations
by the end of 2018. If you are interested in following the Roadmap activities at the PSC or submitting
comments, reference Case Number 18-E-0130 in the DPS document management system.

NY-BEST is completing an in-depth review of the Roadmap and will provide a more detailed summary in
the coming days. NY-BEST looks forward to continuing to work with our members and State partners to
finalize the Roadmap and unlock the vast benefits of storage for New York’s electric grid.

Additional information on the Roadmap and NYSERDA’s fact sheet can be found here.

NY Green Bank – Request of Information (RFI)

The NY Green Bank (NYGB) today released an RFI related to energy storage. The information provided
to the NYGB under the RFI will assist them in designing new financing mechanisms for energy storage
projects. As you will recall, Governor Cuomo previously announced a $200 million commitment from the
NYGB for energy storage projects.

Energy Storage Legislation Passed

The NYS Legislature wrapped up the 2018 session and we are pleased to report that their activities
included passing two bills important for the storage industry that we actively supported. The first,
(S.8971/A. 10410) sponsored by Assemblymember Carroll and Senator Lanza, provides a real property
tax abatement for energy storage equipment placed into service in New York City between January 1,
2019 and January 1, 2021. The bill now goes to the Governor for his consideration. We want to thank
those members who supported this bill, notably Brooklyn Solar Works and Sunrun who, along with our
team, worked diligently at the end of session to get the bill passed.

The second bill (S.7318-a/A.8291-a) sponsored by Assemblymember Paulin and Senator Griffo is a
Chapter amendment to the energy storage deployment legislation signed last year by the Governor,
requiring the Public Service Commission to establish a goal for the amount of energy storage to be
deployed in New York through 2030. The Chapter amendment includes technical clean-ups and changes
that were agreed to by the Executive and the Legislature last year. Most notably, the Chapter
amendment clarifies that PSC must establish an energy storage goal by December 31, 2018 along with a
policy to achieve the goal.

As required by PSC Order Modifying Standard Interconnection Requirements, and consistent with the
Value of DER Phase One Order, the Joint Utilities filed a joint model tariff for compensation of a hybrid
energy storage system and distributed generation system interconnected with the three-meter
solutions. The model tariff incorporates four options and is intended to clarify the application of the
VDER value stack components to energy exported by a hybrid storage/DG system. It can be found at thisLINK.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the proposal.